"Jason Kidd as a head coach? That's tough," Dirk said. "To go right from player to coach, that's tough. If one guy can do it it's him. I played with him for two or three years. The stuff he came up with every day - 'Why don't we try this, why don't you try that?' He's got an unbelievable mind for basketball. Also usually with what teams do is when you have an ex-player that is coaching that you get really, really good assistants that have been around and have experience and know what's going on in the games so that takes some pressure off the ex-player."

Don't buy it. He's being nice.

Kidd may have a great basketball mind and may be able to coach, eventually, but no guy should be asked to go straight from the floor to the bench. He should take the Avery Johnson route and serve as an assistant before taking over.

As a player, and a veteran point guard, Kidd may have been a coach on the floor but he has never been exposed to the brutal world of being the bad guy that a head coach must be from time to time. That aspect alone is a difficult transition, especially for a player who had nothing but the respect of his teammates for so long.

He could do worse than to coach a roster as solid as the Nets, but this is a team built around what is perceived to be a coach-killing point guard in Deron Williams.

Kidd is 40, and played 19 seasons in the NBA before he recently retired from the New York Knicks.

He may have the mind to see the game, but the personality to be a head coach is often an acquired trait. If Kidd really wants to do this, the safer route is to be an assistant first.